US to demand coal-burning power plants keep pumping out pollution, because National Security

It's in the Fearless Leader's latest move to a planned economy that runs on coal.

Down in the Union of Soviet Socialist States of America, the Fearless Leader has announced his new plan to keep the coal mines open; he has declared that coal burning and nuclear power plants should be maintained as a “Strategic Electric Generation Reserve” because the sun doesn’t always shine, the wind doesn’t always blow, and for some reason, natural gas pipelines are not dependable.

So, in the interest of National Security, Fearless Leader and his central planners have determined that system operators “shall purchase or arrange the purchase of electric energy” from listed coal and nuclear plants “sufficient to forestall any further actions toward retirement, decommissioning or deactivation of such facilities..."

In other words, they will be forced to buy more expensive electricity and, of course, will pass that cost on to the consumers of electricity.

In particular, resources that have a secure on-site fuel supply, including nuclear and coal-fired plants, as well as oil-fired and dual fuel units with adequate storage, are essential to support the Nation’s defense facilities, critical energy infrastructure and other critical infrastructure. Our national security also relies on a robust U.S. domestic industrial base, of which the coal, nuclear and oil and natural gas industries are critical strategic components.

Simon Edelman/ Department of Energy/Public Domain

Robert Murray, who runs the biggest coal mining company in the USSSA, claims that “this action is essential in order to protect the resiliency and reliability of our nation’s electric power grids,” and, of course, to keep his mines open. In fact, it appears that this entire plan is the result of lobbying and campaign contributions by Robert Murray.

It seems only yesterday when the last administration was attacked by conservatives for “picking winners and losers” (Solyndra!) instead of letting the free market decide. Now, Fearless Leader has five-year plans for saving coal mines, dirty coal-fired aluminum production and American luxury SUVs. As Basav Sen writes in the usually business-friendly Fortune Magazine, all of these plans will increase greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

With these bailouts, the Trump administration is willing to place large numbers of vulnerable people at risk in our country and worldwide, and to trigger planetary changes that may well destroy human civilization as we know it. Worse, it’s all being done in the name of “national security”—and all to assist politically favored businesses and wealthy individuals. It’s worse than crony capitalism. It’s self-annihilation.

But then, the USSSA is surrounded by security threats like Canada, what choice does Fearless Leader have but to take control of the economy in the name of National Defense?